I wrote a while ago about making water kefir using milk kefir grains. When made that way it’s not suitable for strict vegans, and it risks the health of the grains, but in a pinch it will do the trick. I recently broke down and bought some real water grains, because of a certain someone. A man. And I’m not talking about my (basically perfect) husband.

I’ve been holding out on you, dear reader. I never told you about Dom. If you are any kind of kefir veteran, you already know Dom. If you’re new to fermenting, or kefir, maybe you aren’t familiar, but I think you are about to be as in love as I am. I myself have never met Dom, but love is not too strong a word. Why? Because he has apparently devoted a significant portion of his life to some pretty rigorous experimentation surrounding my very favorite culture, kefir. Furthermore, he shares the results of all of his efforts with the rest of us for free on his site.

It might not be love at first site for you. Maybe you like your urls to be shorter than 23 words. Okay. Maybe you prefer the simple color schemes that websites have developed in the last decade to two decades to the wild and crazy color choices of the 90s internet. I hear you. But I love Dom just how he is (and I think if you have a problem with that stuff I just mentioned, you’ll get over it once you see what the man has to offer).

I have used Dom’s site (Dom’s kefir in-site, to be exact) as a resource for milk kefir for quite some time. And it was Dom who finally convinced me to take the plunge and get some water kefir (or as he calls them, sugar kefir) grains. It was seduction, pure and simple. I was pouring over some of his milk kefir info for the 29th time when I decided to take a peek, just a tiny scroll, into water territory. Just to see. And what a slippery slope it was. It’s too sweet, I thought. I’m satisfied with what I have. I have other cultures in my life. They deserve my time and loyalty. A glance become a look and then I was staring, and their translucent sugar-munching bodies suddenly held an appeal they’d never had before. It was like I was seeing them for the first time. Dom’s fantastic explanations of increasing growth rate, best flavoring practices and secondary fermentation strategy put my mind in a dither and before I knew what I was happening, I’d printed out my order form and mailed it off to the always wonderful GEM.

Now here I am a couple months later not enjoying exactly daily batches of the sweet stuff, but it definitely enters into our weekly repertoire. The sugars you put in are converted not just to CO2 and alcohol, but also to fructose*, which is why water kefir retains such a sweet taste even after fermentation is complete. From a health standpoint, this is still a decent dose of sugar. But if you are, for instance, a person trying to kick a soda habit, water kefir might just be your perfect transition.

You can get more than enough amazing info from Dom’s site, and I highly suggest you do, but in the meantime, I’ll share my very simple process with you. Just know that everything I do right is thanks to Dom and any errors are my own.

A note on grains: neither water kefir nor milk kefir grains are actually grains. They are most likely called grains due to their granular appearance, but in reality they are cultures made up of bacteria and yeast (or SCOBYs, if you will) that contain no grain at all.

Some close up grains

Water Kefir

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THE EXCELLENT ADVICE THAT CAME FROM YEMOOS.

Makes 1 quart

Unlike milk kefir grains, water kefir grains sink to the bottom. So although this is a process of anaerobic (airless) fermentation, you don’t really need a sealing container. I like to use a container that seals because it makes the final product fizzier, like a pro-biotic pop, even if I don’t do secondary fermentation. When you put your kefir in a sealed container, you definitely want to leave a few inches of space at the top, and you want to check in and burp it at least every 12 hours. In a long-neck bottle, don’t fill the neck (and burp). Your grains are creating CO2 and that can cause explosions. This is also why you don’t want to let your container ferment for much longer than two days, and why, even once it’s in the fridge, you need to open it up every so often to let that CO2 escape. Although this has never happened to me, it is a real risk to be aware of.

Ingredients

3 cups of filtered water

4 tablespoons cane sugar of your choice (processed sugars are okay, but honey is a no-no due to its antibacterial properties)

Let it sit at room temperature for up to 48 hours. Sucrose is generally consumed by 24 hours.

Strain out your fruit and compost it.

Strain out your kefir grains with a non-metallic mesh strainer, rinse with filtered water and put them into fresh sugar solution to repeat process. You may also choose to store them in the fridge in filtered water or in a fresh sugar solution (using the proportions in this recipe) for up to a week before making your next batch.

If you like your drinks extra fizzy, put your finished, strained water kefir into a container that seals, such as a swingtop bottle and let it sit at room temp for 1-2 days more. You can also add all varieties of flavorings once your kefir grains are removed. Apple and grape juice, coconut water and vanilla beans are all great choices that yield excellent results. BE VERY CAREFUL AT THIS STEP. EXPLOSIONS FROM WATER KEFIR SEEM TO BE THE MOST COMMON EXPLOSIONS. IF YOU ARE BOTTLING IN GLASS, BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL!!!

Stick it in the fridge or cold storage to let it chill before serving. Store in fridge for as long as it continues to taste good to you. For most people it becomes too acidic after 2-3 weeks.

Special thanks to Mari Jaye Blanchard for the lovely photos in this post.

When I make water kefir I like to try a different flavor every time. Mixing up your sugar source is a great way to impact the flavor of your water kefir.

Some sugar sources I like:

Molasses

Rapadura

Succanat

Cane sugar

Black Cherry (or other organic) fruit concentrate

It’s probably a good idea to think of the flavor your sugar source imparts when deciding what your finished product should be flavored with, but here are a few of my favorites:

Vanilla Bean

Sassafrass Root

Lemon/Lime

Shiso/Stone Fruit (plum works great!)

Basil

Strawberry Basil

Any seasonal fruit

Lemon Thyme/Lemon

Parsley Lemon

Lemon Mint

Ginger

Earl Grey Tea

Dried cherries

Basil and ginger make for a tasty drink

I use one of two ways to flavor my kefir. If I want to use a really acidic flavor, I wait until bottling (or even drinking) and just mix in my desired quantity. So for instance, I would toss a tablespoon of lime juice and a tablespoon of lemon juice into a finished and strained quart of water kefir. Adjust quantity to your taste. A little more and you’ve got healthy Sprite! You can use this method with any juice. (I do sometimes put a lemon slice or apple slice in during primary fermentation. Dom suggested a lemon slice and it makes for a delicious and refreshing finished product!)

If it’s something less acidic, dried fruit, herbs, vanilla beans or ginger for example, just toss them into your strained kefir and let another round of fermentation take place on the counter. A few days should do the trick. As always, I recommend tasting along the way to see where your preferred flavor strength lies.

If you want to use fresh fruit it’s a little bit more of a pain in the ass. You don’t want to let your fruit ferment for much longer than 24 hours, and that might not give you a strong enough flavor. I like it. It’s subtle. But if you want bold fruit flavor, strain out your fruit after a day or two, and then add new, fresh fruit in and repeat everyday until you get the flavor you want. See why it’s a bit easier to use dried fruit? If you do go this route, a good starting point, quantity-wise is one chopped peach, pear, apple or plum or a large handful of slightly mashed berries per quart of kefir.

3 melon kefir might be a pain in the ass, but it tastes like summer

If you’re doing something like parsley lemon, you’ll want to do a secondary fermentation with the parsley and then add the lemon juice once you’ve strained out the parsley. Yes, I like weird flavors! Parsley lemon is great in a gin and tonic! Note that all probiotic benefit is likely killed the second this touches booze. But that doesn’t mean the tasty flavor is destroyed!

Have fun and tell me which flavors you’ve added to your water kefir!

PS – Cultures for Health has a great video that lays this all out very clearly!